Tony Sanchez, a multimillionaire who made hefty campaign donations to Republican George W. Bush and was a Bush appointee to the University of Texas System Board of Regents, is launching his candidacy Tuesday in his hometown of Laredo.

But don't be fooled by the $300,000 in donations to Bush, Sanchez says. A self-described "raving moderate," he's given money to about 150 Democratic candidates and has called himself a Democrat for 40 years.

"Extremisms don't work in business and they don't work in government," he said. "The only thing in common that an extreme right winger and an extreme left winger have is intolerance."

A son of a typewriter repair shop owner, Sanchez says he once packed pineapples and melons at produce houses near the Texas-Mexico border. His family built a banking and oil and gas empire with operations in Houston and Laredo, becoming business leaders in South Texas.

Candidates for Texas governor in 2002 are:

DEMOCRATS

Tony Sanchez, Laredo

Marty Akins, Marble Falls

John WorldPeace, Houston

REPUBLICAN

Gov. Rick Perry, Austin

Sanchez will become the first well-funded Hispanic candidate for Texas governor and likely the front-runner among Democrats in 2002.

"It looks like it's Sanchez's brass ring to seize, at least in the early going," said Bruce Buchanan, a government professor at the University of Texas.

Sanchez, 58, has never run for elected office. One of his biggest challenges, Buchanan said, will be proving he's not "another rich guy trying to buy his way into office."

Marty Akins of Marble Falls and John WorldPeace of Houston, both attorneys, are the other Democratic candidates.

Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who inherited the governor's job when Bush resigned to become president, also is running.

The race is expected to be expensive. Perry and Sanchez each may spend as much as $30 million if they face off, according to political consultants.

Sanchez served on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission from 1985 to 1991. Bush appointed Sanchez in 1997 to the University of Texas System Board of Regents, a job he could retain while running for governor.

Sanchez was a proponent of affirmative action as the UT System reacted to the landmark Hopwood ruling, which led to a ban on race-based policies for admissions, financial aid and scholarships at public universities.

When the regents named a search committee to select the new president for the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, Sanchez complained that the panel had too few minorities and pushed to expand it. Dr. Francisco Cigarroa, a Hispanic, was chosen for the job.

Sanchez has been active in establishing the UT System's Regional Academic Health Center in the Rio Grande Valley.

He stresses that education will be his main interest as a gubernatorial candidate. A devout Catholic, he says he's concerned about the fairness of the application of the death penalty, and favors a limited government role in abortions.

"Over the next 15 months, I'm going to make it abundantly clear to every single person in this state: I'm going to be an extremely good governor to everyone," Sanchez said.